System Restore-Does it completely wipe everything?


  1. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #1

    System Restore-Does it completely wipe everything?


    So, I'm planning on selling my PC and I've entered a lot of private information on this computer. I don't want to be a victim of identity theft and I don't want people looking at my documents. I know that just deleting them would be recoverable (since it doesn't delete the data, but it lets it be overridden later), but I'm wondering if preforming a System Restore would take my PC, keep the OS, and strip it bare to factory settings.

    Thanks for reading,
    -Dave
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #2

    Hello Dave,

    A System Restore would only take your system back to a point in time that the restore point was created for.

    If this is for the HP in your system specs, then you could do a factory system recovery to restore the PC's state back to how it was new out of the box. This would wipe all data on the drive.
    Hope this helps, :)
    Shawn
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 26
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks a lot! I'll be doing this soon, and it's good to know that my personal stuff is safe. Once again, thank you very much.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 71,977
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
       #4

    You're most welcome. Just be sure to not select to create a backup, if the option is available, when doing the factory system recovery.
      My Computer


  5. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #5

    Just be aware that when you do a System Recovery, you will have to reinstall all updates since the time your system came out of the box. This is not a problem, just very time consuming.

    And all programs you had previously installed (except those that came with the system) are gone too.
      My Computer


 

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